The Abey head office and manufacturing facility, located in Melton, Victoria, employs over 150 people and the company has plans to expand into New Zealand and Europe.

Finding new ways to satisfy customer needs by focusing on solutions, Abey has been led in its quest by current Managing Director, Geoff Anderson and a supportive management team.

“They (BlueScope) also havea strong commitment to tolerances and quality, which is extremely important to us. Ifa problem arises then they are quick to take action to correct it.”

In recent years, much of Abey Australia’s efforts have gone into the introduction of innovations designed to simplify the work of builders and plumbers and to save time on building sites.

BlueScope Sheet Metal Supplies has been a longstanding supplier to Abey Australia, assisting with new product development and testing.

It has also developed a quality plan to meet specific Abey requirements for product tolerances and packaging, as well as assisting with market intelligence, stock management and just in time supply.

Production and Tool room Manager Venkatesh Kittur says that the company’s manufacturing efforts are mainly centred on masonry, plumbing and building products.

“Because of the competitive nature of the markets in which we compete as a local manufacturer, we have to have every advantage going for us,” he said.

“In recent years we have really made an effort to use the latest technology, which helps us maintain our stream of innovative products. For instance, all of our metal presses are fully automated. Most recently, we have made a significant investment in robotics and that has been supported by a government grant. That will soon come online in our powder– coating plant.”

Venkatesh also explained the nature of Abey’s relationship with BlueScope Sheet Metal Supplies.

“It’s a lot more than regular deliveries and a once a month meeting,” he said. “BlueScope makes special steels for us such as special grades of ZINCALUME®steel in G2N and Galvanised G3N grades for pressed parts that require deep drawing capabilities for products such as guttering pops and gas cowls.

“They also have a strong commitment to tolerances and quality, which is extremely important to us. If a problem arises then they are quick to take action to correct it.”

“Other ways in which they assist us include material analysis and technical reports which we can then pass on to our customers as proof of quality. With our new powder coating operations, BlueScope has conducted salt spray testing to give us baseline durability figures to support our product quality claims.”

“Steel deliveries to us happen every week or fortnight depending on our requirements. They build stock as we take it and we find that BlueScope Sheet Metal Supplies is very proactive in understanding the market as a whole and our needs in particular so that they can anticipate them.”